


filling in the blanks as we go

by thatsanotherlovestory



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Epistolary, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 07:08:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22012036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsanotherlovestory/pseuds/thatsanotherlovestory
Summary: Klaus doesn't expect much when he sends that first letter.But then Caroline writes back.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Comments: 24
Kudos: 168
Collections: Klaroline Gift Exchange — New Year's Day





	filling in the blanks as we go

**Author's Note:**

  * For [If_I_Say_Light](https://archiveofourown.org/users/If_I_Say_Light/gifts).



> Hello, and happy new year!
> 
> The prompt I received for this gift exchange was "meeting again in the future or having an established relationships," with additional requests for "banter and some sexual tension and fluff," and specific suggestions of "Maybe them meeting each other time and time again and then finally coming together once and for all. Or them just travelling a bit. Or Klaus helping Caroline with the salvatore school."
> 
> I combined many of these to create a primarily epistolary story in which Klaus and Caroline are pen pals who occasionally meet in person. I've always wanted to write something like this, so I was quite excited to have the chance with this prompt. 
> 
> This is canon divergent after TVD's fourth season, with no magical babies and virtually no mentions of any TO canon at all. Dates for canon events described or referenced came from the Vampire Diaries Wikia site.
> 
> The title I chose is a lyric from Taylor Swift's song, "Cornelia Street."
> 
> I hope you enjoy this!

_June 18, 2011_

Dear Caroline,

I am writing to you to thank you for inviting me to attend your graduation. I am honored that you wanted me to be present while you achieved this milestone in your still young life, and as presumptuous as I'm sure this will sound, I can only hope that I am fortunate enough to bear witness to as many of your accomplishments as you will allow.

I hope you also know that there is no one else for whom I would travel across state lines to save the life of Damon Salvatore, though as you know, the timing was, for him, a convenient coincidence.

I trust that your friend Bonnie was able to restore the Veil and that Mystic Falls has returned to its usual ghost-free state, which begs a question I am genuinely curious to hear the answer to, if you would be willing to provide it, sweetheart: what is it that the Salvatore brothers do nowadays when there is no danger or enemy currently threatening their precious Elena?

Speaking of questions about mutual acquaintances, I'd like to know your thoughts on my sister and your human friend Matt. I'm certain that he'll disappoint her sooner or later, though Rebekah tells me that I'm too quick to judge her beaus, so I seek your opinion on the matter: do you think it will be sooner rather than later that this adventure comes to an end?

I hope that you are enjoying your graduation present, and I am not referring to the mini-fridge—for which I did receive your thoughtful thank you note. It is not often that I give gifts of such a great cost, and equally infrequent that I find someone who I believe to be worthy of such gifts.

You are, of course, under no obligation to maintain regular correspondence with me, though I would welcome whatever communication you choose to offer. Try as you might to deny it, I know you, and I feel quite confident in my assessment that you appreciate the old-fashioned romantic gesture of a love letter.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_June 24, 2011_

Dear Klaus,

Thank you again for both of my graduation gifts. You really don't need to thank me for sending you a graduation announcement, postage isn't that expensive, so it wasn't like mailing it was some huge deal. It cost less than a dollar, and considering that the mini-fridge is top of the line, I totally made a return on my investment.

I've already warned Damon that he needs to be more careful now that you've moved out of state and won't always be available to save him in time. He tried to brush me off with a characteristically sarcastic remark about how you would always come running whenever I asked, which made it particularly emotionally satisfying when I told him that I wouldn't ask.

(Don't read too much into it, I just don't think that anyone deserves to be used for their blood, and it would be very hypocritical of me to treat you like an on-call blood donor every time Damon provokes an angry werewolf after being so opposed to you wanting to use Elena like an on-call blood donor so that you could make hybrids. It's the principle of the thing, that's all. It has nothing to do with how I feel about you as a person.)

Yes, the Veil is back where it belongs and all of the ghosts are on the Other Side where they belong. Which is a relief, since I packed up all of the graduation caps. Though that wouldn't be the method I would have used, since decapitation is messy and vampire disposal is not my strong suit.

"Nowadays?" Could you sound any more like an old man? But sure, I'll answer your question. Damon spends all his time screwing Elena on every flat surface in the boarding house, and Stefan left town without a word. I'm currently living a Salvatore-free life, and it's wonderfully refreshing after months of both of them summoning me like their servant at all hours and forcing me to obey their orders.

But Bonnie and Matt and Tyler are gone too, so I haven't exactly had a full social calendar this summer.

That reminds me, you asked about Matt. Your overprotective older brother shtick is adorable, by the way, and while I think it's funny, I'm sure Rebekah doesn't. She's a thousand-year-old vampire, Klaus, she can handle an 18-year-old human. I don't know exactly how Matt feels about Rebekah, but I can tell you that he broke up with me because I became a vampire, even though that didn't stop him from still having feelings for Elena after she became a vampire or from developing feelings for Rebekah, who's been a vampire since long before they met, so it might be just me. Matt loves his friends and will do anything for the people he cares about, but he would always rather not be involved in supernatural drama, and Rebekah is the supernatural drama queen, so I can't see anything permanent between them. Plus, he and Elena dated before her parents died and Stefan showed up, and he's never really gotten over her (she was already thinking about breaking up with him then because he kept talking about their future together and she wasn't sure that's what she wanted, so his feelings for her were very serious) and after everything with Stefan, I can't see Rebekah taking that well.

The mini-fridge was a great graduation present. The other graduation present you gave me hasn't arrived yet. I can't exactly track its progress, so I don't know where it is now or when it should arrive in Mystic Falls, but I don't know what's taking it so long to get here. (For the record, I am not accusing you of anything).

Mystic Falls is boring. Tell me about New Orleans.

Sincerely,

Caroline

P.S. Of course writing 'love letters' is one of your flirting techniques, since you seem to enjoy being a billion years old. Haven't you ever heard of this newfangled invention called the telephone? (But since it seems that you're too shy to ask: yes, I will be your pen pal, if that's what you really want.)

&

_June 29, 2011_

Dear Caroline,

It is what I really want, thank you. I have heard of this 'telephone' contraption that you mentioned, but I've found I prefer the intimacy of a handwritten letter.

I do appreciate your warning to Damon, and though I resent being compared to your friend Elena, I can see why you would make that connection. I still don't think I was wrong for seeking to use her blood to make hybrids, and I won't apologize to her for doing so, but I understand why it upset you. In the spirit of full disclosure, this is not a new revelation, I have always known that your fierce loyalty to the people you care about would make the idea of anyone wanting to harm them for their own selfish ends intolerable to you. I consider myself very fortunate to be counted among them, as evidenced by the proper scolding you gave Damon (don't worry, I won't take it personally). If I'd known how frequently Damon would need to be cured from werewolf venom, I would have proposed a trade: my blood for the doppelganger's.

I'm glad you are enjoying your respite from the Salvatore brothers and their ill-fated schemes. No one should have to tolerate alleged friends who dangle them like an ornament in front of an enemy who could kill them quickly and easily. You are so much more than a pretty distraction, and you deserve to have friends who see that.

I'm sorry to hear that your friends have left you alone in Mystic Falls, a place that is only tolerable when in good company. I can assure you that I have nothing to do with any of their absences, and if you asked me to, I would have them located and brought to you this very day.

Rebekah may be a thousand years old, love, but she still shows an appalling lack of judgment, declaring herself in love with every boy who catches her eye when they are just a passing fancy that she will soon be bored of. If your friend is really so opposed to the conflicts of supernatural creatures, I would advise him to make some human friends and leave Mystic Falls as soon as he can, rather than continuing to live in an epicenter of supernatural activity and get annoyed that it is encroaching on his attempt at an ordinary mortal life. I can't imagine that his prejudice against vampires is limited only to you, sweetheart, as you are the most innocent and human vampire I've met in a thousand years. I've never understood what it is about Elena that kept everyone in town so enamored with her, but you deserve so much more than someone who still carries a torch for her, and so does Rebekah.

I must say, I'm very disappointed to hear that your graduation present has not yet arrived. I assure you that if I were in Tyler's place, I would not have allowed anything to keep me from returning to you as quickly as I was able.

As I've mentioned to you before, New Orleans is one of my favorite places in the world, and I look forward to the day that you come see the city for yourself.

With my siblings' help, I built the city and made it our home for over two hundred years. As I'm sure you realize, that is the longest amount of time that we've ever been able to settle in one place. We were happy there for centuries until Mikael found us there and forced us to flee. Now that Mikael is finally gone for good, we can reclaim the city as ours once again.

The problem we've encountered is that in our absence, someone else has crowned himself king of the city, and now I must fight to take back my kingdom. My brother Elijah is here as well and will advise and assist me in the war to come, and Rebekah will join us as soon as she returns to the country after spending the summer traveling with your friend.

I'm sure that you're now wondering why I would go to the trouble of fighting for control of this city when I could fairly easily take possession of any number of others, but it isn't only for sentimental reasons that I want to rule New Orleans once more.

New Orleans has an energy about it that is unlike any other city I've resided in or visited—a hedonistic, uninhibited darkness combined with a loudness and brightness that is always changing and can entrance residents and tourists alike. The belief in magic and supernatural creatures are a part of the city's folklore and cultural identity, so vampires, werewolves, and witches are not forced to feel ashamed or hide what they are. The humans who live here either work with us or turn a blind eye to our exploits.

The city seems to never completely relax, never content to settle for moderate and reasonable when gluttonous excess and limitless indulgence are a possibility, never sedate or boring even in its darkest moments. New Orleans is famous for its ability to throw a party, so the fast pace is born from the desire to wring as much excitement and enjoyment out of a day as possible, rather than the demand for productivity and efficiency. One can hear music playing at nearly all times, the glow of neon signs visible from nearly any vantage point. I haven't counted, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that there are more bars in New Orleans than there are buildings of any kind in Mystic Falls.

The city isn't perfect, of course: under its current leader, what should be a haven for all supernatural creatures has lifted vampires to the top of the hierarchy—by stepping over witches and werewolves to get there. Werewolves are not allowed to set foot in in the French Quarter, instead relegated to the Bayou, and the witches are forbidden from practicing magic within city limits, which means that since they practice ancestral magic, they cannot use magic at all.

I know that this sort of injustice would upset you, and I will not allow it to continue under my reign.

You might find it interesting to know that Tyler's little werewolf friend, Hayley, was lured down here at the same time I was, because it turns out that she is the long lost princess of an old New Orleans werewolf pack called the Crescent Wolves.

Though the wolves are largely independent because of their exclusion from the city, having their alpha as an ally will be an important step in convincing all four factions to support my rule.

I've prattled on for far too long already. I eagerly await your reply.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_July 4, 2011_

Dear Klaus,

Is it supposed to make me feel better that Tyler cheated on me with a backstabbing wolf with no class or fashion sense who is actually secretly a werewolf princess, rather than just a backstabbing wolf with no class or fashion sense? Because it doesn't.

And why would you want a backstabber as an ally for anything? She'll just betray you, just like she did when she helped your hybrids break their sire bonds while pretending to be their friend, only to betray them and manipulate you into killing them as a punishment for doing what she taught them to do. I still don't know why she did it, but she clearly has no loyalty to anyone, only self-interest.

Plus she snapped my neck once in a public bathroom, and she slept with my boyfriend while he was still my boyfriend, so I'll never like her or trust her.

(I don't technically have any proof about the cheating thing, but I just know in my heart that Tyler cheated on me with her. He says that she "helped him." Yeah, I know how she helped him. He really expected me to believe that he wasn't spending hours every day transitioning into his wolf form and back in front of her and they were both keeping their hands to themselves? No one is that naïve.)

But aside from the addition of a certain new werewolf resident, New Orleans sounds like a great place. I hope I have a chance to visit someday.

I can't think of anything I can do to help you in your mission to be the king again, but good luck, I guess. If anyone could stage a hostile takeover of a city using sheer force of will alone, it would be you.

If I could offer you some friendly advice though, remember that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. You'll have a much easier time of getting the vampires, witches, werewolves, and humans on your side if you can convince them that their lives will be better with you in charge than under the status quo.

This injustice does upset me, because vampires aren't superior to witches or werewolves or humans and it isn't fair to anyone to treat them like they are. I will hold you to your commitment to treat everyone equally and with the kindness and respect that they deserve.

Talk to you soon,

Caroline

P.S. You're talking to the queen of the nervous ramble. Feel free to prattle all you like.

&

_July 10, 2011_

Dear Caroline,

With the rare exception, you've proven yourself to be an extraordinary judge of character, so I trust your assessment of Hayley's trustworthiness.

However, though I am fully aware in her involvement in the deaths of my hybrids, she still may be of some use to me. It doesn't matter to me that she has proven that she possesses no sense of loyalty to anyone, because I have no intention of showing any loyalty to her either. I don't trust all of the allies I've worked with over the centuries, and I don't see trust as a necessity in all alliances. Often times a common goal is a more powerful unifying motivator than a personal relationship.

I can't imagine that knowing about her heritage would have any impact on your opinion of her, or inspire you to forgive her for her crimes against you. I merely thought that her presence in New Orleans might be of some interest to you, and that you might find it reassuring to know that she and Tyler are not together, as I would be informed immediately if Tyler approached the city. It was not my intention to upset you.

Though I thought that you were the optimistic one out of the two of us, as the jaded half of this pair, I have to agree with your uncharacteristically cynical intuition's suspicions. I have already scolded Tyler for hurting you with this indiscretion, and if he ever crosses my path again, I will remind him of how displeased I am with his unacceptable treatment of you.

I welcome your advice, though I can't guarantee that I will always follow it, and I will be relying on you to hold me accountable, since everyone else I know is either too afraid of me to do so, or doesn't care enough to make sure that everyone is treating fairly, so long as they get what they want.

Your faith in my prospective victory in this war to reclaim my kingdom is the greatest compliment I've ever received.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_August 22, 2011_

Dear Klaus,

I'm sorry for not writing for a few weeks. I honestly haven't had anything to say. I have never been so bored in my life as I have been this summer.

My mom is always working, Elena is always with Damon, Bonnie is gone, Tyler is gone, Stefan is gone, Matt is gone. The closest I've come to hanging out with a friend since June is when I go to the Grill when Jeremy happens to be working.

He hasn't heard from Bonnie, either. I've asked.

And I'm glad that everyone is enjoying their fun summer vacations, but I just wish that my friends would make even just a fraction of the effort I'm making to stay in touch. I call Bonnie and Tyler every day, Matt and Stefan every other day, and none of them ever return my calls.

You're the only person who has shown any interest in staying in contact with me. Why is it that someone I've spent years thinking of as my enemy seems to care more about me than friends I've known my entire life?

(Please don't answer that question. I don't think I'm ready to hear the answer.)

Caroline

&

_August 30, 2011_

Dear Caroline,

Please don't feel any pressure to write to me on any sort of schedule. I look forward to hearing from you whenever I hear from you, however frequently that might be.

On a related note, I do not write to you to solicit a status report on the goings-on of Mystic Falls. Though I'm not sure if you'll believe me, there is nothing that you could write that I would be bored by. It is your voice—your wit, your humor, your perspective—that I find engaging.

I'm sorry that you feel alone, and I once again extend an invitation for you to come to New Orleans whenever you like. You would be my highest priority, and I would only leave you alone if necessary for the sake of your safety.

Though I have no new information about where Stefan, the Bennett witch, or your boyfriend are, I can call Rebekah and have Matt returned to you in a matter of hours, if you would like me to.

While I understand the time and effort that your mother's work demands of her, your friends abandoning you without a word is unacceptable and you deserve much better. I will take your friends' behavior towards you into consideration the next time any of them need my help.

Do you truly still see me as your enemy, or if not yours personally, then your friends'? I know that your admirable loyalty to your loved ones means that you would never take my side in any sort of conflict against them, but now that I have abandoned my efforts to make hybrids using Elena's blood and left Mystic Falls, I had hoped you would no longer see any affection you might feel for me to be a betrayal of your friends. I had thought that our relationship had progressed beyond that, if only because you do not strike me as the kind of person who would spend an entire summer writing letters to her enemy.

And Caroline, I will oblige your request, but we both know that you know the answer to that question already. All that remains is when you will accept the truth.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_September 6, 2011_

Dear Klaus,

You gave me a lot to think about in that last letter.

First of all, no, I don't still see you as my enemy, or even my friends' enemy. I'm not sure I ever thought of you as my enemy specifically, even after the incident where I nearly died on your orders. I believed you then when you said that I was only collateral damage and it was nothing personal against me. And like you said, you aren't here terrorizing Mystic Falls or plotting ways to steal Elena's blood right out of her veins, so while I'm not going to take out a billboard announcing that we're friends now, I'm not ashamed of it either.

Also, I know that we both know that I know why you seem to care about me more than any of my friends do. I told you that I knew, remember, that other time I almost died because of you? And I said it with the intentions of using your feelings for me to manipulate you into saving me, so I wasn't entirely innocent in that episode either.

Did you order your minions to look for my friends? That's very sweet of you, thank you. It worries me that they didn't find anything, though. Maybe you need to upgrade to new minions with superior research skills.

On that subject I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Matt is back, and full of stories that I can live vicariously through and pretend I also went on an epic whirlwind summer vacation through Europe. The bad news is that no one else is back, even though school is starting soon and they all should be here by now.

Thank you for the invitation, but I can't take a trip to New Orleans this close to classes starting. I'm sure that as long as you're living there, I'll make it there eventually.

Since you've said you enjoy hearing about the mundane events of my boring life, here's the latest: I moved into my dorm at Whitmore yesterday.

I'm sharing a room with Elena, and it was great to see her again without Damon's tongue down her throat—or worse. They're so gross.

I wish that Bonnie and Tyler were here, and it feels like our group is incomplete without them. They're supposed to be here and we don't know where they are or when they'll be back.

But even with all of the craziness and the missing friends, I'm really excited to start college. It feels like an accomplishment to get out of Mystic Falls (even though we aren't very far from it) and start a new chapter in our lives.

It just occurred to me to ask: is it weird for you when I talk about Tyler? I'm not sure I'll be able to stop mentioning him entirely, but I'd at least like to know if it makes you uncomfortable.

Until next time,

Caroline

&

_September 12, 2011_

Dear Caroline,

You are very considerate to ask, but no, it is not "weird" for me when you talk about Tyler. He is an important person in your life, and though I do not like him for a multitude of reasons, I do not expect you to act as if he does not exist because of that.

So we're friends now, are we? You honor me, love. If I'd known that all it would take for you to consider me your friend was for me to leave Mystic Falls, I would have done so months ago, especially since you are so delightfully forthcoming in these letters, where you do not have to look me in the eye as you confess your true feelings.

You have only ever manipulated me because I allowed you to manipulate me, and I've never allowed you to manipulate me into doing anything I didn't want to do. I chose to take advantage of every opportunity to spend time with you, even though I knew that you were only doing so to distract me from whatever your friends were planning.

No one has ever called me sweet before. Yes, I did have some of my minions try to find your friends. I knew that their continued absence was upsetting you, and I have the resources at my disposal, so I thought I would use them to try to make you happy. I've taken your advice and instituted an aptitude test for the minions, and only those who earn a perfect score can be assigned to your protection.

I would be delighted to take you on an epic whirlwind summer vacation through Europe if you would like me to. Or if you'd like to go with your mother or one of your friends, that can be easily arranged as well. Just say the word. The same principle applies for whenever you'd like to come to New Orleans. You're welcome any time.

You deserve to feel excited and proud of yourself for starting college; it is an accomplishment, especially in the midst of all of the chaos you survived during the last few years of your schooling.

I wish you the best of luck (though I know you don't need luck) as you start this new chapter in your life.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_September 20, 2011_

Dear Klaus,

So much has happened in the last couple of days that every time I tried to write, I had to start over to include the latest bombshell that exploded on us. But after tonight, I couldn't wait any longer.

The first life-changing news I received this week was that the reason Bonnie has been gone all summer is because she's really gone. As in, dead. She died on graduation day, all the way back in June, sacrificing her own life to bring Jeremy back to life when she raised the Veil. She's been dead all summer and no one knew except Jeremy, and she made him promise not to tell anyone. How could I not have noticed that something was up with her? I am officially the worst friend ever.

The next loop-de-loop on this emotional rollercoaster was Tyler finally coming home in the middle of the funeral we held for Bonnie. He just sauntered over to us like he hadn't been ignoring all of us for months, but I was so happy to see him again that I pushed past my anger. I took care of sending in his application to Whitmore, registering him for classes, compelling him a dorm room, and everything else he would need, so I thought that we would finally be together, going to college and dating like a totally normal couple, and everything would finally be good for us.

I was wrong, of course.

Tyler broke up with me tonight. Because of you.

He was so angry at you, yelling at me that we were only together because you'd allowed us to be and that he couldn't live that way, and how you'd killed his mother and gotten away with it, so he wanted to ruin your life just like you ruined his. Then I told him that I wouldn't wait around for him again, that if he left, our relationship was over. I asked him to love me more than he hated you, and he said he couldn't, and then he left.

I'm not on your side here—I think that you were wrong to kill Carol just to punish Tyler for helping the hybrids break their sire bonds—but I'm not on his side either. My side is always that one with the least amount of bloodshed and the fewest number of dead bodies. I don't want either one of you to get hurt.

So I'm telling you this partly as a warning to you so that you would know he was coming, and partly to ask you to please, please, not hurt him. He may not be the epic love of my life, but he was my first love and I'll always care about him.

I am definitely not writing to you for sympathy over the breakup. The weirdest thing about it is that being broken up with Tyler doesn't feel much different from being in a relationship with Tyler, which says a lot about how dysfunctional our relationship was and how stupid I feel for devoting so much time and energy to it. We were together for a little over a year, and he was gone for over half of it, so he clearly didn't care very much about being with me.

Ever since he came back to Mystic Falls with Hayley in tow, I suspected that he'd cheated on me with her while he was away breaking his sire bond. He hardly ever contacted me any of the times he left town without even telling me where he was planning on going or when he was planning on coming back. Looking at it now, I can see that he took for granted that I would be sitting here waiting for him to come home no matter what he did or how badly he treated me while he was gone.

Even tonight, when he told me that he couldn't stay and attend college with me because he wanted to dedicate his entire life to getting revenge on you, it was like it hadn't even occurred to him that I was tired of trying to be in a relationship with someone who was never there for me and didn't love me enough to stay.

If any of my friends knew that I was writing to you—about anything, let alone to protect you from whatever Tyler might try to do to hurt you—they would hate me, but I still don't feel guilty for it.

I don't know what that says about me, or them.

Sincerely,

Caroline

&

_September 28, 2011_

Dear Caroline,

Your letter reached me hours before Tyler did. I will tell you everything that happened, but first I want to assure you that I heeded your request and did not kill him even though I've killed for less in the past. He left New Orleans yesterday, angry but uninjured.

As I told you I would, I received word when Tyler arrived, and I decided to let him come to me, so that I would have the advantage of having this altercation on my territory and so that he would see that I do not view him as a threat. Then I waited for him to make his way to the house.

I do not relish telling you, love, that Tyler first ventured out to the Bayou to meet with Hayley. I don't know if they've been in contact at all since she's been here, I don't know the entirety of what they discussed, I don't even know who told him that that is where the New Orleans werewolves live, but he did tell me when he showed up that she had been the one to give him directions to my home.

Elijah and Rebekah were both out when Tyler was visiting our home, not that it would have mattered if they had been present. Elijah would have seen this as a petty squabble not worthy of his time or energy, and Rebekah would have taunted us both and insulted you, which I am glad that I didn't have to listen to.

To be quite honest, it seemed as though poor Tyler wanted more to air his grievances with me than to actually cause me physical harm. He soliloquized for quite a while about how I'd ruined his life, killed his mother, stolen his girl, etc. All things I was present for, and therefore didn't need the recap.

I easily thwarted his attempts to turn the confrontation physical, which seemed only to frustrate him further. He demanded to know why I wasn't fighting back, to which I told him that unlike him, I actually care about your happiness, and I knew that killing him would not make you happy.

Predictably, this did not make him calm down; instead he started yelling about how I knew nothing about you or how to make you happy, and that you would never stop hating me no matter what I did.

I didn't think that you'd told your friends about the letters we've exchanged, so I did not mention them.

A lengthy and rather dull, if I'm being honest, exchange of taunts ensued, some of them about you, some of them about his mother, some of them about my parents and siblings.

Eventually, however, he seemed to deflate, following a remark I'd made about how his mother would be disappointed to see that he'd abandoned the future she would have wanted for him in order to seek revenge we both knew he would not be able to win, or something of that nature, and languished in a defeatist lament about how I'd taken everything that he'd given his life any meaning or happiness from him and he had nothing to go back to or look forward to.

This hopelessness seemed at odds with the arrogant and bitter young man I'd come to know, though blaming me for his troubles was familiar. I quickly inferred that, though I didn't think he truly wanted to die, he viewed death at my hands while in pursuit of his revenge against me—thus reinforcing his view of me as the personification of evil and destroyer of all good, and himself as my persecuted victim—as a more heroic fate than the hard work of rebuilding the shambles of his life without you by his side.

Usually, I would have been happy to offer him the end he sought, but I'd promised you that I wouldn't harm him, so I simply ordered him to leave New Orleans immediately and continue living his pathetic little life, knowing that he was completely free from me because he didn't even mean enough to me to put him out of his misery.

Then he skulked off to the Bayou and stayed with Hayley there before leaving the city yesterday. I don't know if he is now on his way back to Mystic Falls or if his plan is to try to start over somewhere else.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_October 4, 2011_

Dear Klaus,

Thank you for not hurting Tyler. I know that goes against your usual system of punishing people who cross you, and I know that that might (ever so slightly) hurt you when it comes to making your enemies tremble with fear at the sound of your name, and I know that you let him go only because I asked you to, so thank you.

But I also want to make very clear that I am not a possession for Tyler to own or for you to steal from Tyler, and I resent the implication from both of you that I am the prize in this contest between the two of you over which one of you is tougher and more of an alpha male than the other. I have free will, and I get to choose who I want to be in a relationship with, whether that's Tyler, or you, or someone else entirely. Got it?

Surprisingly, I have no further comment on this incident. Nothing you've reported has changed my opinions or feelings regarding you, Tyler, Hayley, or your siblings.

Obviously Tyler was lying or mistaken; of course I don't hate you.

Sincerely,

Caroline

&

_October 8, 2011_

Dearest Caroline,

I sincerely hope that this reaches you in time, but isn't too early, because I know that you'll get impatient and won't wait until your birthday to open your gifts.

Happy birthday, sweetheart. I would say that I wish I could be there to wish you a happy birthday in person, but I'm not sure that you would want that, since I can't imagine that you're looking forward to telling your friends that we are friends as well. Still, if you wanted me to come join you for your birthday, I would be on my way in a heartbeat.

I hope that your friends have planned a celebration for you, and I hope that this birthday is significantly less painful than your last, though I can't bring myself to fully regret that, for without that hybrid bite I never would have gotten to know you, and now I can't fathom how dull and dark my life would be without you in it.

In response to your last letter: I have discovered that there is very little I would not do if you asked it of me; I have never seen you as anyone's possession and of course I respect your prerogative to make your own choices; and I am very glad to hear that, love.

Happy birthday, Caroline. This world is unspeakably fortunate to have your light to guide it, as am I.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_October 16, 2011_

Dear Klaus,

Thank you very much for the birthday gifts! I would say that this is way too generous, but I've been inside the trophy case, so I know that this is nothing compared to the insane amount of money and stuff your family owns. Though why a family with only one girl owns so many dresses, I don't know (and there's no way even Rebekah could wear all of those, even if she wore two every day, even during the years she was daggered, and never repeated an outfit).

Anyway, the vial of your blood is safe in my mini-fridge, the earrings are so beautiful I haven't taken them off since I opened the box, and I can't wait to start reading the book as soon as I get some free time between schoolwork and the regularly scheduled Mystic Falls drama.

I went out to dinner with my mom and then out for dancing and drinks at a club with Elena and Bonnie to celebrate. I think I forgot to tell you about Bonnie, in the midst of all of the drama with Tyler, so now you know, Bonnie is back as the Anchor to the Other Side. She isn't a witch anymore, but she's alive, so that's good enough for me.

I know 19 must seem like nothing to you, but considering that I was killed when I was 17, I'm thrilled to have reached 19. How much longer do I have before individual birthdays stop being so important? What did you do for your last birthday, and what do thousand-year-old vampires give their siblings for birthday gifts?

One last thing: please don't tell my friends or my mom this, but your presents were my favorites.

Thanks again,

Caroline

&

_October 22, 2011_

Dear Caroline,

I'm glad that you like your birthday presents, I'm glad that you enjoyed your birthday celebrations, and I'm especially glad that your friend is back. I know how much you missed her.

Being the Anchor to the Other Side sounds tremendously unpleasant, and I've witnessed the agony of witches being forced to lose their powers. This won't be an easy transition for your friend.

Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I can think of no circumstances under which I would have a conversation with any of your friends, let alone one about your birthday gifts. But I didn't mean to cause you any strife with your friends by sending you gifts, so I apologize if they gave you any grief if any of them deduced that they were from me.

That's an interesting question, sweetheart, I do enjoy your inquisitive mind. The last time I celebrated my birthday was in the '20s, since, as I'm sure you can imagine, birthday parties aren't particularly enjoyable when your siblings are unconscious in coffins. Rebekah has always been the one of us most eager to arrange for such festivities, so with Elijah off on his own and Rebekah and the others daggered, I've largely ignored my birthday since then. I believe that the gift I received from my sister that year was a painting I'd admired, but as you so astutely observed, as a vampire gets older, individual moments in their life become less distinct in their memory. As for your other question, I seem to remember birthdays other than significant milestones (100, 200, 500, 1,000) seeming less important after 150-year mark, or thereabouts.

Even though your nineteenth year may not feel like an important milestone that you will remember vividly for the rest of your life, but it is certainly not nothing. While vampires don't reminisce fondly over their youth the way that humans do, you will reminisce fondly over the memories you made in your youth, especially since your mother and some of your friends are mortal. And I too am thrilled that you have reached 19.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_November 22, 2011_

Dear Klaus,

Hi! Sorry, midterms are the worst! But now I'm on Thanksgiving break for a week, so I have some time to breathe and eat and write. Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? I mean, I know you were born in America, but that was long before it was America, although you were living in America when America officially became America, except that New Orleans wasn't actually part of America yet when America officially became America, so do you actually consider yourself to be an American?

Sometimes I honestly forget that you're a thousand years old, and then you write about your literal millennium of life experience and I'm surprised before I remember. It makes me kind of sad to know that eventually my birthdays won't mean as much to me anymore, that right now 19 feels so different from 18 and 18 felt so different from 17, but 219 won't feel much different from 218, which won't feel much different from 217 (you know, if I live that long, of course).

You haven't had a birthday party in 90 years?! When is your birthday, I'm throwing you a birthday party next year!

You're right about Bonnie's transition to being the Anchor not being fun, and she does miss her magic, but she also likes being alive a lot more than being dead, so she insists that this is a sacrifice she's willing to make.

You did not "cause strife" with my friends (seriously, why do you still talk like such an old person?) by sending me birthday gifts. I told you that I wasn't going to hide that we're friends, and I didn't. The vial of your blood is clearly labelled, and even if it wasn't, you're the only person whom I would have any reason to keep their blood in my refrigerator. Elena and Bonnie both complimented my earrings, and even if I hadn't come right out and told them they were from you, they would have figured it out pretty quickly because I don't know anyone else who could afford to buy me diamond earrings for my birthday, same with the obviously very rare and expensive first edition of _A Tale of Two Cities_.

And they didn't give me any grief either. Elena asked me if I was still in contact with you, I said that I was (because I am), then Elena started ranting about how terrible you are and how many people you killed, then I reminded her that we've all killed people and done other terrible things (because we have), then Bonnie interrupted to say that they trusted that I knew what I was doing (which I do), and that was the end of it.

You three will be besties in no time.

Until next time,

Caroline

&

_November 28, 2011_

Dear Caroline,

You will live to see your 1,000th birthday and beyond, I will ensure it.

What a thoughtful question. I actually do not consider myself to be a citizen of any country, though the only two places I've ever considered to be my home with any sort of permanence are Mystic Falls and New Orleans, so I suppose I could technically say that the United States is my home country. But usually if anyone asks me where I'm from, I say something vague, and they assume I was one of those children who moved around a lot when they were young and never lived anywhere long enough to consider any of the places in which they lived home.

But no, I don't celebrate Thanksgiving. It's another occasion that seems quite strange to observe when your family is incapacitated. Neither Elijah not Rebekah expressed any interest in participating in the holiday this year, so we spent the day as we usually do: me strategizing how to get the city back under my authority, Elijah disapproving of nearly everything I say under the guise of advising me, and Rebekah shopping and generally being a terror.

As for my birthday, you must realize that we didn't use the same calendar back then, and relied primarily on the stars to tell us the date. I was born just after the vernal equinox, so I've always observed my birthday at the end of March.

I would hate to be the cause of a disagreement between you and your friends, so I am glad that they did not have the strong reaction that I'd suspected they might, and I'm very pleased that you stood up for yourself, even though they clearly disapproved of your contact with me.

You make a fair point about the blood, love, but you do not need to be wealthy to purchase expensive things thanks to compulsion.

I have no desire to have any relationship with Elena Gilbert and the Bennett witch who is now no longer a witch, though I will tolerate them for your sake, and for your sake alone.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_December 20, 2011_

Dear Klaus,

I was wrong, finals are worse than midterms. But hey, I'm finished with my first semester of college! I wasn't sure we were going to make it, considering the number of times various friends and classmates were kidnapped and/or killed (seriously, the way Elena gets kidnapped makes me think that she has one of those rewards cards like at Starbucks, and when you get a certain number of hole punches you get a free drink, except her card is for kidnappings). At least the nonsense seems to have calmed down a little now that Silas is gone, though the aftermath of that adventure wasn't exactly smooth sailing.

Now it's almost Christmas and I don't know if you actually celebrate that either. You know everything about me, including stuff I didn't even tell you, and I know nothing about you. I know you're paranoid and all, but haven't I proven by now that I'm not going to use personal information like your birthday or whatever religious affiliation you might have against you?

Yes, I did notice that you didn't actually tell me your exact birthday, and unless you'd like me to throw a party every day between March 21st and March 31st, you will tell me your birthday.

Side note: I'm sure you don't care at all about horoscopes, but of course you're an Aries! Strong leader, check. Quick temper, check. And for the record, yes, this means that we're compatible. Don't read too much into it.

Elijah seems like he would be disapproving. Have ever told you that he scares me? He just seems so stern and emotionless, and you can never tell what he's thinking, but then he might just reach out and kill you, and you never see it coming. I'll take you and Rebekah's volatility of Elijah's cold and calculating rationality any day. At least when you two murder someone, it's because they made you angry, whereas if Elijah were to kill someone, it would be part of a strategy that he's weighed the pros and cons of letting this person live and made a deliberate decision.

So I don't think either of you should be left alone with the murder weapons.

Sorry, I have to wrap this up; there are Christmas cookies to be baked and ornaments to be hung and _It's a Wonderful Life_ to be watched. Merry Christmas to you and your siblings if you're celebrating it, if not, well then, Merry Christmas anyway.

And since I know it's the best offer I'm going to get, thank you for tolerating my friends.

Sincerely,

Caroline

&

_December 26, 2011_

Dear Caroline,

I don't mean to make you think that I don't trust you enough to tell you about myself, I just haven't trusted anyone aside from my siblings in such a long time that I am not in the habit of sharing. But since you asked, I celebrate my birthday on March 27th, and when my siblings are out of their coffins, I do celebrate Christmas.

You're right, horoscopes mean nothing to me, but I won't argue with anything that tells you that you should be with me.

Congratulations on finishing your first semester of college. I had every confidence that you would succeed, and that you will continue to do so. I hope, for your sake, that your friend stops getting kidnapped with such frequency next semester, though I know that this has had no impact on your academic achievements.

Elijah is considered the honorable one of us, and I can't say that anyone else has ever told me that he frightens them, and I definitely have never heard anyone say that they find me less frightening than him. Your analysis of his motivations is not incorrect: he is deliberate where I am impulsive, and I believe that this makes him the superior strategist.

However, you never have any need to feel afraid of either of us, or any of my siblings. You know that I would never hurt you, and they have all been informed that I will make them regret that they were ever born should they ever so much as speak an unkind word to you.

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas with your mother and your friends.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_January 11, 2012_

Dear Klaus,

I just thought that you'd want to know that Katherine is dying. Her health has been declining for a while, but now she's really on-her-death-bed, only-has-hours-to-live, truly dying.

I can't imagine that it would be very emotionally satisfying to see an enemy that you've been threatening to kill for half a millennium succumb to old age, but that's how the cookie crumbles here in the bakery that is Mystic Falls.

I personally disagree with this whole vendetta you have against her. I mean, she just wanted to not get murdered just because it would serve your interests to do so and has spent centuries being punished for it, never able to settle down anywhere for fear that a more powerful supernatural being would find her and kill her for the crime of being alive. Sound familiar? I know that bringing up Mikael is a low blow, and I'm sorry, but I was almost used in one of your sacrifices too, so I'm on Katherine's side on this one.

And please pass the message along to Elijah as well. From what Elena's told me, he really did love her and deserves to say goodbye.

Thanks,

Caroline

_January 13, 2012_

Caroline is wandering the woods looking for Matt when she senses his presence. It's something she's been able to do before, this inexplicable ability to feel when he's near. It's instinctive, Caroline knows, not supernatural.

She turns around, and there he is.

"Hello, Caroline," Klaus greets her, smiling warmly.

"Klaus," Caroline sighs out in reply.

She isn't entirely sure what she should do. She isn't surprised to see him, since she'd essentially told him to come to Mystic Falls only days earlier, but she isn't sure how he expects her to react to seeing him here. Should she give him a hug, or would he balk at the show of affection?

They each step closer to each other tentatively, shrinking the space between them.

"I received a call from Damon telling me that Katerina has taken a turn for the worse," Klaus breaks the sudden silence. "I didn't think that he would know that you'd already informed me of this news, but I am somewhat surprised that he truly seemed to think that I would simply leave a town I resided in for over a year with no surveillance whatsoever in place."

She knows why he's telling her about Damon contacting him: so that her friends don't have to know that she was actually the one to inform him of Katherine's approaching death unless she tells them herself. Now that she knows, they'll be on the same page, so she won't be surprised if someone asks Klaus how he knew about Katherine.

"Right, my protection detail," Caroline recalls. "Are they all vampires, or did you have some more hybrids stashed away somewhere?"

"If only I did," Klaus shakes his head. "But no, they're vampires."

"For the record, I'm not happy about it either way," Caroline says. "And if I find out that they are being compelled to guard me, or that this is some sort of punishment for them, I'm going to be very upset. I know that I have to choose my battles with you, and that I'm never going to convince you that I don't need vampires to supervise me and report back to you that I'm safe, even though it makes me uncomfortable to have my privacy invaded like that. So it would make me feel better about the whole thing if I knew that they were at least being treated well—you know, a good salary, paid time off on holidays, maybe a pension? It seems only fair that they should have some more perks than your average minions, since they have to ace your aptitude test."

Caroline hadn't forgotten about them since Klaus had mentioned them in one of his letters, but although she's glared suspiciously at anyone in any of her classes who looks at her for too long or in any way resembles a Klaus-appointed stalker, she hasn't yet managed to weed them out.

"Very well, sweetheart," Klaus obliges readily, gesturing for them to resume walking through the woods while they continue their conversation. "They weren't compelled or being punished, but if you'd like to help them renegotiate their benefits package, be my guest."

"I'll start working on a list of demands as soon as we're done here," Caroline declares eagerly. "Spending the day waiting for someone to die is objectively weird, even in the supernatural world, right? Yet Damon and I both thought that you would want to fly up to wait with us."

"Well, unbeknownst to Damon, thanks to you, I was once again already on my way when he summoned me," Klaus says. "Something that somehow did not occur to him when we arrived hours earlier than would be possible had we left as soon as I received his call. He just informed me that you were out here looking for your friend?"

"Yeah, Matt's been kidnapped this time," Caroline answers, blushing with embarrassment after realizing that she'd nearly forgotten all about Matt after seeing Klaus. "You said 'we,' does that mean Elijah came with you?"

"He did," Klaus confirms with a nod, taking Caroline's hand to chivalrously help her step over a protruding tree root. "He's with her now, after nearly coming to blows with Damon, whom we found toasting to Katerina's impending demise, though he did pause in his alcohol consumption long enough to inform us that Stefan had slept with Katerina, I'm sure, for the sole purpose of causing trouble."

"That's the only reason Damon ever does anything," Caroline says, rolling her eyes. "I didn't tell you that, because I didn't think you'd care or want to know, and I'm never sure exactly how much Mystic Falls gossip you have any interest in. My guess was that if it doesn't involve me, or Elena becoming human and offering you her blood to make new hybrids, you aren't interested."

"That's a fair assessment," Klaus agrees.

"Though the way I see it, Elijah can't really justify being mad at Katherine for sleeping with someone else after he abandoned her to go to New Orleans with you," Caroline points out. "I mean, he can't help how he feels, but if he tries to explain to her why he's angry, I suspect they're going to get in a fight, and I don't think that's how they want to spend their last hours together before she dies."

"Another good point," Klaus responds. "Would you like to go play peacekeeper between them, or would you like to keep looking for your friend Matt?"

Caroline pauses to consider her options. On the one hand, Matt was literally buried alive. On the other, a grieving Original vampire drowning in self-loathing and guilt after squandering the love of his life's final moments could have devastating consequences for more than just Mystic Falls.

"Well, as far as I know, the only one in the boarding house right now is Damon, and we know that if Elijah and Katherine start fighting he's going to make popcorn and goad them for his own entertainment. But considering your history, Elijah and Katherine would probably both be uncomfortable with you being within earshot while they're talking, so it's probably better for us to stay out here."

"I'm sure my brother wants me to hear declare his undying love for Katerina Petrova even less than I want to hear my brother declare his undying love for Katerina Petrova," Klaus agrees.

They walk along in silence for a few minutes, still holding hands, since neither of them had seemed to have given their physical contact any thought.

"So if you and Elijah are both here, does that mean you left Rebekah in charge in New Orleans?" Caroline asks.

"It was my plan to leave Rebekah behind to represent our family while Elijah and I were gone, but you've seen how Rebekah feels about following directions," Klaus laments.

"So she came with you," Caroline infers.

"She's here, rescuing your friend Matt as we speak," Klaus confirms.

Caroline lets out a sigh of relief.

"That's good. I wasn't very helpful after you showed up," Caroline accuses playfully.

"You mean I distracted you? What an unforeseen reversal of roles here, sweetheart," Klaus replies, equally lighthearted. "Our hearing is a bit better than yours, that's why Rebekah and I were able to hear him and you weren't. It isn't a black mark against your character or a failing as a friend. I'm sure your other friends who were out looking for him couldn't hear him either."

Klaus's explanation does make Caroline feel a little better about not being the one to save Matt.

"Well, I guess now that Matt has been rescued, we can go back to the boarding house and you can watch Katherine die, as you came here to do," Caroline suggests.

Klaus stops walking, moving around so that he is facing Caroline, still holding her hand.

"Caroline, I came to Mystic Falls because you invited me, and because you are here," Klaus insists. "Yes, it would be satisfying, as you said, to witness the conclusion of five hundred years of vengeance, but my primary motivation for coming to Mystic Falls was to see you."

"Really?"

"Well, as you said, love, spending the day waiting for someone to die is 'weird,'" Klaus responds. "I would gladly give up a day of gloating over Katerina's impending demise in exchange for spending that day with you."

"You would give up your revenge against Katherine, for me?" Caroline wonders.

"Yes," Klaus answers.

"Why?" Caroline demands.

"You know why," Klaus tells her. "Although, to make sure I get something in this trade, all I ask is one small thing in return: I would like you to answer a question for me."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Is this really what you want?" Klaus asks, taking Caroline's other hand. "Do you really want to spend your days searching for a friend who's been buried alive in another friend's backyard while you wait for your murderer to die? I've already told you that I believe that small-town life won't be enough for you. I know that it isn't enough for me. The only reason I have to ever return here is you, I just need to know if that's what you want, or if you want more than what Mystic Falls has to offer you. You can be a queen at my side, wherever in the world you want me to take you, and the throne next to mine will always be yours, whenever you want to take it. I just need to know if you want it."

Caroline looks down at the leaves on the ground, considering the best way to arrange the incoherent jumble of thoughts that rushed to the forefront of her mind in response to Klaus's question into some sort of articulate answer.

"Will you still write to me, whatever my answer is?" Caroline asks first.

"Of course," Klaus answers.

Caroline takes a deep breath and grips Klaus's hands for support.

"I'm in college," Caroline starts. "I'm still learning, and trying to figure out who I want to be when I grow up. I need to build a life for myself, and I can't build my life around you, because I've been that girl whose whole life revolves around her boyfriend and I don't want to be her anymore. You want me to be your queen, and be yours forever, and I'm still too young to even imagine what forever looks like. I need to finish college, for me, and hold down a job, for me, and spend some time wrapping my head around what it means to be immortal before I have to say goodbye to my still relatively human life, for me. I don't want you to walk away and never come back, but I'm not ready to leave my mom and my friends and the only life I've ever known. Mystic Falls isn't what I want forever, but it's what I need right now."

"I see," Klaus states stoically.

"I don't think you do," Caroline retorts. "I'm not rejecting you. I'm not saying I don't want everything you promised me and everything you want for us. All I'm saying is that I'm not ready for it yet, and I don't know when I will be, but I don't want to lose you completely until whenever I am ready."

"You won't lose me," Klaus promises fiercely.

He moves closer to her, letting go of her hands in order to gently hold her face in his hands once he gets near enough.

Then he kisses her, and it's the best kiss Caroline has ever had. It starts out gentle, and somehow stays that way, even as it grows increasingly passionate. As Caroline wraps her arms around Klaus's neck, she thinks that she could quite happily spend the rest of forever kissing Klaus.

Eventually though, they decide that they need to go back to the boarding house, so that Caroline's friends don't get worried or suspicious and send out another search party. When they arrive, everyone else has already safely returned and are sitting around the great room, except Elijah, who is upstairs with Katherine.

If any of them finds anything strange about Caroline and Klaus entering together, after everyone else is already present, they don't mention it.

Hours pass in an odd, tentative peace in which the Originals don't threaten anyone and no one seems threatened by them. Stefan and Damon go outside to have some semblance of a private conversation, Elena goes upstairs and asks Elijah for a moment alone with Katherine. Bonnie passes along messages from loved ones on the Other Side.

Night has long since fallen by the time Elena comes back downstairs and informs them that Katherine has passed away. Elena's announcement is enough, no one asks Bonnie to confirm that she felt the doppelganger pass through her to the Other Side.

Caroline, Klaus, Elena, and Rebekah look to Elijah, who is looking down at his hands, knowing that the carefully crafted cool façade of the eldest living Original is about to break. Noticing all of the eyes on Elijah, Stefan leads Damon away before he can say something crass and offensive that will just make the tense atmosphere in the room worse.

Then, slowly and gracefully, Elijah stood up.

"Let's go," he commands in a tightly controlled, emotionless voice.

Klaus's eyes meet Caroline's, their gaze fraught with words they've left unspoken, as he and Rebekah offer everyone in the room a quick goodbye before following their brother out of the house.

&

_February 2, 2012_

Dear Klaus,

So, remember how Katherine died the last time you were in Mystic Falls last month? Turns out, we were all wrong, she wasn't dead! She'd used Traveler magic to possess Elena, and she only actually died for real last night.

I feel like the worst friend ever for not noticing that it was actually Katherine in Elena's body for almost a month. I've known Elena practically my whole life, I should be able to tell the difference between her and her evil twin. Katherine has pretended to be Elena before, but never for this long, and either Stefan or Damon could always tell she was actually Katherine pretty much right away. Although, each of those times, they knew that Elena and Katherine were both alive, so I guess they must have let their guard down after they thought Katherine was dead. I guess we all did.

Do you think it's strange that I actually feel sad that she's dead? I mean, she killed me, so I don't think anyone could blame me if I just saw her death as karma giving her what was coming to her, but I actually feel sorry for her.

I was told it's because I see the good in people, which of course made me think of you, but I don't think that I feel sorry for her just because I thought that she was actually a good person after all.

I don't actually think I actually do think she was a good person. I don't think she was irredeemably evil the way Damon seemed to with his toasting, but she did willfully murder, steal, lie, among other crimes, in order to survive. And I don't think that she was wrong for wanting to survive, but I just hope that if I ever found myself in a similar situation, I would find a way to survive that didn't involve so many other people getting hurt.

Maybe that's why I feel sorry for her: I don't know, if I had been in her place, if I could have done anything differently, and I don't want to think that I could become a bad person.

How's Elijah holding up? I know he took Katherine's death pretty hard.

Sincerely,

Caroline

&

_February 8, 2012_

Dear Caroline,

Elijah would tell you that he's fine, thank you for asking. I will also thank you for asking, but tell you the truth, which is that he's taking his grief and anger out on the witches of New Orleans, who, like most witches we encounter, are suspicious of our motivations and are reluctant to declare their support for my siblings and me in this war for the city.

I shouldn't be surprised that Katerina Petrova found yet another way to evade death, at least temporarily. I certainly shouldn't have taken Elena's—though now I see that that would have been Katerina in Elena's body already—word for it when she said Katerina was dead.

How well known is this information? I'd rather Elijah not find out; it will be difficult to take back control of New Orleans without any witches on our side if Elijah alienates them all (at best) or murders them all (at worst). I know that you will think that sounds more like me than like him, but you have never seen the violence Elijah is capable of.

You are far from being a bad friend. None of your other friends noticed that who they thought was Elena was really Katerina, either, and that was because Katerina was working very hard to make sure that you didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. You are not a naturally suspicious person, and you had no reason to suspect that anything was wrong with your friend. With her willingness to forgive the Salvatore brothers anything, I am sure that she will not blame any of you for being hoodwinked by Katerina.

You do see the good in people, for which I am grateful. However, perhaps because you see the good in people, you also inspire those around you to display the good in themselves so that you see the very best they have to offer, because no one can prove themselves worthy of you with anything less than their very best.

I certainly would never describe myself as a good person, yet the more time I spent with you, the more I could feel you excavating what goodness there was left in me—which I happily allowed you to do, because I wanted you to see that it was there within me, however underutilized, and that you alone had the power to uncover it. Not only do you have the ability and inclination to see the good in people, you also possess the ability and determination to bring out the good in people if it isn't immediately visible.

You could never become a bad person. Even as a vampire, you still see human life as valuable, when most vampires, including both Katerina and myself, see humans as only our food source who can occasionally be of some use to us. I can't imagine your world view every changing so drastically that you no longer see every living being as having intrinsic value just by virtue of being alive, rather than having finite value based on the extent of their limited usefulness.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_March 26, 2012_

Dear Klaus,

Happy Birthday! (for tomorrow, while I'm writing this, but by the time you're reading this, tomorrow, it will be your birthday).

You don't look a day over 950.

I hope you have a great birthday.

Cheers,

Caroline

&

_April 2, 2012_

Dear Caroline,

Thank you very much for the birthday gift.

I'm not sure if the Napoleon biography was intended as a joke at the expense of my ambition or if you merely sincerely thought I would enjoy reading this, but either way, I appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity. Even if you did mean it as a joke, I am looking forward to reading this book, as it looks to be both exhaustively thorough and engaging, which is rare for a biography of this length.

I'm also inclined to believe that you selected this particular book to send to me because you remembered that I was building and ruling New Orleans during Napoleon's own rise to power, and you know, therefore, that I could not have known him in person. I know that the length of my life and the number of people I have known during that time is something that intrigues you, and I promise to one day list all of the historical figures and celebrities that I've met.

One day you will have just as many stories to tell about the famous people you've interacted with, and I can't wait to hear them all—and perhaps even play a role in some of them.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_May 3, 2012_

Dear Klaus,

Here's the latest news from Mystic Falls, and it's all bad.

I'm not even sure where I should start. The biggest news should go first, right? Well, here goes nothing: The Other Side collapsed last night. As far as I can tell, from here on out, when you die, you have to stay dead. No second chances and loopholes and coming back from the dead.

Almost all of my friends were on the Other Side when it collapsed (Stefan had been killed by a Traveler the day before yesterday, and Elena, Damon, and Tyler were killed in an explosion at the Grill yesterday) but a witch acquaintance did a spell to bring Stefan, Elena, and Tyler back, along with Alaric (who isn't consumed by a compulsive need to kill vampires anymore, fortunately), but Damon is gone and so is Bonnie, which I guess makes sense because she was part of the Other Side itself as the Anchor, but that doesn't make losing her twice in less than a year hurt any less.

As I'm sure you can imagine, Elena is inconsolable, and Stefan isn't doing much better.

As weird as it is to say this, I guess this is actually good news for you, since it means that neither of your parents can come back and try to kill you again.

And the other news is that there is now an anti-magic spell around Mystic Falls, so I hope you weren't planning on coming back anytime soon, because if you stepped inside the border, you would die.

I told you all of my news was bad.

Caroline

&

_May 11, 2012_

Dear Caroline,

I am so sorry for your losses.

I can't believe that you would think I would see anything that hurt you as good news for me. As much as I loathe to have to live with the possibility that Esther or Mikael might find a way to come back from the Other Side, I would never seize the opportunity to eliminate that chance if the cost was your happiness.

I will consult with a few witches who owe me favors and pass along any information I can glean from them regarding the Other Side and the anti-magic spell.

I actually had no concrete plans to return to Mystic Falls anytime soon, but I appreciate the warning all the same. I suppose this means that you'll have to come visit me here in New Orleans instead.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_September 3, 2012_

Dear Klaus,

I've spent the whole summer doing nothing except trying to find a way to get rid of this anti-magic spell that is keeping us from entering Mystic Falls, and I haven't found a single answer.

No one else is even trying.

Stefan took off and isn't returning any of my phone calls, Elena is on drugs that make her hallucinate Damon (yes, seriously), Alaric is trying to figure out how to be a successful vampire, Tyler is human again, and I don't know what Jeremy is doing but I'm sure he isn't using healthy coping mechanisms to process everything.

I just feel stuck, you know? I'm not going back to Whitmore this year—I know, I know, but how could I sit in class and pretend to care when my best friend is dead, again, and I can't even go visit my mom in my childhood home? College just seems so unimportant and insignificant right now—but I can't go home either.

Thank you for offering to help, but there seem to be no answers anywhere.

Caroline

&

_September 12, 2012_

Dear Caroline,

I wanted to wait to write until I had better news to report, but unfortunately, everyone I consulted has come to the same conclusion: The Other Side is now gone for good, and everyone who was there is now gone for good along with it.

No one knew a way to undo the barrier preventing magic from entering Mystic Falls either.

I must remember to find and blackmail smarter witches. This bunch was quite a disappointment, which is sad, really, considering how helpful they've been in the past.

I'm sorry that you feel alone and that your friends appear to have given up rather than help you find a solution.

I actually do understand your view on college. You have your entire life to earn a degree, or several, but finding a way to return home feels like a more pressing task. Your life is yours to do with what you choose, sweetheart, and you don't have to please or answer to anyone except yourself.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_December 23, 2012_

Dear Klaus,

I received the worst news ever today, and you've become the first person I want to share my news with, good or bad.

My mom is sick. Cancer. In her brain.

She fainted, so I took her to the hospital, and the doctors used a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo that Elena had to translate for me, and even then I still barely understood, but the SparkNotes version of it is that the cancer has spread to the point that it's too dangerous for them to try to treat it.

And as it turns out, vampire blood can't cure cancer either. Believe me, I know from experience, because I was desperate and naively hopeful enough to try it, but it didn't work.

So my mom is dying.

I knew that this would happen someday, but I wasn't expecting it to be this soon. I thought that she would die of old age, decades from now. She's survived vampires and werewolves and vampire hunters and Silas and being possessed by a Traveler, only to die of cancer? It isn't fair.

I'm never going to be ready to lose my mom, and I don't know how I'm supposed to live the rest of my immortal life loving people only to lose them.

Caroline

&

_December 28, 2012_

Dearest Caroline,

I am so sorry to hear about your mother's illness. I know how important your mother is to you, and I know that you'll want to spend every second you can with her, so I won't waste your time with empty platitudes and clichés, or questions that will only overwhelm or scare you.

If there is ever anything at all I can do to make you or your mother more comfortable, please don't hesitate to let me know and I will always do anything I can to help you.

Yours,

Klaus

&

_February 8, 2013_

Klaus,

She's gone.

Caroline

&

_February 10, 2013_

Klaus arrives at the church at the exact time he carefully planned to be most helpful for Caroline. He wanted to make sure he had enough time to speak to her before the service started, but he didn't want to be so early that she was forced to endure invasive questions about his presence from the townspeople and her friends.

The church's parking lot is still nearly empty, though he recognizes Caroline's, Stefan's, Matt's, and Damon's cars, which tells him that his timing is perfect, as he'd intended.

There are still no funeral goers approaching the doors when Klaus walks up to them, but he can now see Stefan and Matt sitting on the ground near the doors.

To their credit, neither of them look surprised to see him.

"She's inside, Elena and Damon are with her," Stefan offers.

"Thanks," Klaus replies with a nod.

Inside the church, he sees Caroline standing next to the open casket, Elena standing next to her holding her hand, and Damon standing a few steps away, facing the empty pews.

Damon is the first to notice him.

"Klaus?" Damon questions, clearly surprised to see him.

Caroline and Elena both look up and turn to face him.

Letting go of Elena's hand, Caroline calls out his name and half runs, half falls into his arms.

He holds her close as she latches onto him like a lifeline, burying her face in his shoulder as if that will protect her from having to face the world.

"Thank you," she breathes into his neck, and he's glad to hear that her tone is grateful and relieved, but not surprised. She knew that he would come, even though she had never explicitly asked him to do so.

"Klaus, we weren't expecting you to be here," Elena says, sounding not nervous, exactly, but obviously not completely at ease in his presence.

Caroline only pulls herself away from Klaus enough to be able to face Elena as she tells her friend, "I invited him to come to the funeral," Caroline announces quietly but firmly, as if almost daring Elena or Damon to argue with her.

But they don't.

"If you want him here," Damon shrugs. "No one is going to tell you what to do today."

Caroline takes a deep, shuddering breath, and Klaus gently rubs her back to comfort her.

"We'll give you two a minute," Elena offers after a moment, her sympathy for Caroline winning out over her distrust of Klaus.

Once Elena and Damon leave to join Stefan and Matt outside, Caroline takes Klaus's hand and leads him over to her mother's casket. Caroline reaches in and adjusts the sheriff's badge Liz is still wearing.

"Thank you for coming," Caroline says without looking up. "I knew you would, but I don't want you to think I'm not grateful because of that."

"Of course, sweetheart," Klaus responds. "Is there anything else that still needs to be done?"

Caroline shakes her head.

"Everything is taken care of," she says. "Everything is ready, they're just waiting for me to be ready to start."

Klaus pauses, uncertain of what to say. For someone who has been the reason for so many funerals over the centuries of his life, he has never found himself in the position of having to comfort the person he loves at the funeral of her beloved last living parent.

"Sweetheart," Klaus caught Caroline's attention, her tear-filled eyes finally leaving her mother's body and focusing on him. "I know this won't be easy, and I wish you didn't have to go through this, or at least that there was something I could do to make this easier for you. But I know how strong you are, so I know that you will survive today, and tomorrow, and the next hundred days, and the next thousand years. And your mother knew that too."

Tears roll down Caroline's cheeks, but she stands a little straighter, gathering her strength.

When Elena pokes her head in a few minutes later to ask if Caroline needs more time or if she's ready for the service to begin, Caroline steps forward and takes Klaus's hand in one of her own and Elena's in the other, leading them to the front pew and sitting in between them.

Mystic Falls residents file into the church, stopping in front of Caroline to offer their condolences. Many of them don't even seem to recognize Klaus, which he finds both strange and welcome, since today is about Caroline, not his return to Mystic Falls.

Klaus largely ignores the pastor's words, focusing on watching Caroline's reactions instead. She starts weeping almost immediately, with the sobs intensifying when the police department performed their traditional honors for fallen officers and when Damon gave a surprising sincere and touching eulogy.

When it was Caroline's turn to speak, she reluctantly let go of Klaus's and Elena's hands and walked up to the microphone.

She thanked everyone for coming, and then she began to sing.

Klaus had never heard Caroline sing before, but he isn't surprised to learn that she has a beautiful voice, and he is immensely proud of her for being brave enough to perform in front of all of these people.

When she was finished, Caroline hurried back to her seat and quickly took their hands again.

The last custom, which Klaus recognizes, is for the officers to remove and fold the flag they've draped of Liz's casket and give it to Caroline. The officer places it in her lap after concluding that she won't let go of Klaus's and Elena's hands as the tears she managed to keep at bay while she sang come flooding back.

Even after the pastor concludes the service, it's still over an hour before Caroline finishes accepting condolences and thanking everyone for coming.

"I want to go home," Caroline tells Klaus, who has promised himself that he will not leave her side unless she asks him to.

"Do you anyone else to come?" he asks.

"No, I'm not really up for a crowd," Caroline answers.

He doesn't need to be invited in, and wouldn't even he hadn't already received an invitation years earlier, and the realization feels like a weight in his stomach.

He doesn't know if Liz Forbes knew that he and Caroline were still in contact, that they'd become friends. He doesn't think that Caroline's mother ever liked him, after everything he'd done, but he's always respected her, admired her even, ever since the first night he'd ever set foot in this house.

The momentous act of allowing Klaus inside was a testament to how fiercely she loved her daughter; that she would so easily set aside her prejudice against him and her hatred for the crimes he had committed against the citizens of Mystic Falls, whom she'd sworn to protect, in order to keep her child alive.

Klaus makes a mental note to share this reflection with Caroline at some point while he's here.

"Are you going home, Care?" Elena catches up to them. Elena, Matt, and the Salvatores are among the last people in the church.

"Yeah, I think I've had about all I can take of Mystic Falls for today," Caroline tries to laugh as she gestures around the room.

The idea hits him, and he wonders how he didn't think of it before.

"Then you should leave."

"What?" Caroline reacts.

"Come back with me to New Orleans. Get out of Mystic Falls and grieve somewhere where there aren't memories around every corner. Let me take you away from the nosy neighbors and the to-do lists and all of the other nonsense so that you can focus on yourself," Klaus suggests.

Caroline looks around at her friends to gauge their opinions.

"It's probably healthier than anything I did when any of my family members died," Elena says.

Stefan and Damon just shrug.

"It's up to you," Stefan adds.

Caroline pauses to think it over, then nods emphatically.

"Let's go to New Orleans."

&

_February-August, 2013_

Caroline will willingly admit that Klaus was right that New Orleans is absolutely the right place for her to be right now. It's bright and loud, so her attention is constantly being pulled in a dozen different directions and leaving her no time to dwell in her grief and fear, but there's also a darkness to the city that makes Caroline feel like it feels her pain.

She couldn't handle that romance of Paris, or the gravity of Rome, but the irreverence of Mardi Gras beads hanging from a centuries-old statue makes Caroline feel, for the first time since her mother's death, the possibility that although her life would always feel emptier without her mom, it would still go on.

Caroline watches as Klaus's life in New Orleans continues on as it had without her, only now with her hovering on the edges of it. She meets the new people in his life, even re-meeting Hayley, who now carries herself with the strength, determination, and confidence of a general and has married the heir of another important werewolf bloodline within her pack.

Living with the three Originals is a challenge, of course, with their very different, strong personalities, but they settle into a routine more quickly than Caroline had expected. Rebekah still criticizes her fashion sense, and Elijah still acts so stilted around her that it's difficult to tell if he likes her or not, and Klaus still threatens to dagger them both at least twice a day, but Caroline doesn't feel unwelcome there, which is a vast improvement from her relationship with all of the Mikaelsons just two years earlier.

She eats beignets and drinks hurricanes and listens to jazz music, and while she frequently thinks about how much she wishes her mom could be here to join her in these new experiences, she finds herself truly enjoying herself.

For the first time in a long time, she has no enemies to defeat, no problems to solve; her only concern is her own mental state, and while it feels strange, Caroline also knows it's exactly what she needed.

Her friends keep her informed of what's happening in Mystic Falls.

She wants to go home when she hears about Elena—the strange spell that will keep her in an enchanted sleep, like a fairy tale, until the end of Bonnie's life—and Alaric—more unlucky in love than any ten people could withstand—and Jo—killed by her own twin brother on her wedding day, while pregnant with her own set of twins.

Klaus convinces her to stay, that she can't do anything to help now that the damage has already been done, and that there's no reason to put herself in danger for people who are, technically, safe.

But even though what Klaus said was true, Caroline couldn't help but want to be there for her friends while they recovered from yet another series of losses.

So she began making plans to return home, to reenroll at Whitmore College in the fall, to make sure Bonnie didn't feel guilty about living while Elena couldn't and to keep Damon from killing Bonnie, to place flowers on her mother's grave and be able to go inside her childhood home without breaking down and wanting to turn it all off.

When she informed Klaus of her plans, he only asked her if she was sure she was ready to go home, and when she answered in the affirmative, he drove her all the way to Virginia himself.

&

_September 2, 2013_

Dear Klaus,

I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me these past months. You're the only reason I didn't lose my mind and turn off my humanity, and I'm eternally grateful for that.

But this is probably the last you'll hear from me for a while.

You've been so generous and supportive since my mom died, and I appreciate it so much, but I'm scared of becoming dependent on you, and if I don't force myself to stand on my own two feet, I might never be able to.

I need to go back to school, and make up for the time I lost, Rory Gilmore-style, so that I can still graduate when I was supposed to, and I think I need to do it on my own. I need to be able to face the reality of life in Mystic Falls without my mom there, and I can't do that in New Orleans, with you holding my hand and making sure I never see or hear anything that might upset me.

I hope you can understand why I need this.

I truly, sincerely, thank you with all my heart for everything, and you'll be the first person I send a graduation announcement to.

Yours,

Caroline

&

_September 6, 2013_

Dearest Caroline,

Of course I understand your desire for independence, and I will continue to endeavor to give you whatever it is that you need.

There's no need for you to thank me, I have already told you that there is very little I would not do for you.

I will always be here for you if you have need of me, and I look forward to receiving your graduation announcement.

Always yours,

Klaus

&

_May 21, 2015_

Klaus feels his heart fill with pride as he watches Caroline cross the stage, not because he had any vested interest in Caroline earning a degree, but because he knew how important this accomplishment was to her after everything she'd suffered and survived in the last four years.

He'd gotten here early to make sure to get a good seat, and he knows that Caroline can see him as she walks by, her smile lighting up her face.

Of the hundreds of students at the ceremony, the only name Klaus hears is Caroline's.

After the ceremony, the only name Caroline calls out through the crowd of people is his.

And when they are eventually joined by Bonnie, Stefan, Damon, and Alaric, Caroline is still in his arms, one of the corners of her graduation cap poking him in the temple, though he'll never complain when he has her this close.

"Congratulations, Caroline," Stefan offers rather stiffly.

"Congrats, Blondie," Damon echoes.

Klaus doesn't hear what Bonnie and Alaric say, because he's busy whispering in Caroline's ear how proud he is of her, how he always knew she could do whatever she put her mind to, how he can't wait to see what she accomplishes next.

He insists on taking her out to dinner to celebrate her graduation, just as he did after her high school graduation. Because he knows she wants him to, he invites her friends to come along, but they all politely decline—Alaric, he imagines is still uncomfortable in his company; Bonnie claims she has plans, though with whom, she won't say; Stefan is perceptive, and can convince his brother to follow his lead.

After their lengthy, expensive meal, full of engaging conversation as they fill each other in on everything they've missed in each other's lives over the last three years, Klaus offers to drive Caroline home, since she'd mentioned that the graduates had been advised to carpool and so she had gotten a ride to the ceremony with a classmate.

They sit in companionable silence for a few minutes after yet another toast, this time from a bottle of expensive champagne the Salvatores have given Caroline as a graduation present before Caroline breaks the silence.

"Klaus?" Caroline catches his attention.

"Yes?"

"Are you ever going to kiss me again?"

Klaus turns to face her, stunned.

"I didn't know you wanted me to," he tells her.

Caroline chuckles.

"I always wanted you to kiss me, Klaus, that was never the problem," Caroline says.

He can move at vampire speed, and still, he can't get to her fast enough.

He presses his lips to hers with the urgency of a dying man finally finding an oasis in the desert. Hours pass, or perhaps only seconds, he doesn't know. Nothing compares to the indescribable feeling of kissing Caroline Forbes, and he will continue to chase that feeling for as long as she will allow him to.

"There's something else I wanted to talk to you about," Caroline tells him timidly, sometime later, once they finally come up for air for a moment.

"What is it?" Klaus asks, knowing that her shyness in mentioning it must mean that she knows he won't like what she's about to tell him.

"I want to see the world," Caroline says.

Klaus doesn't see why she thinks that he might react poorly to that. He's been offering to show her the world, to offer it to her on a silver platter, from practically the day they met.

"Then you shall see the world," Klaus agrees. "Where would you like me to take you first?"

Caroline bites her lip.

"That's kind of the thing," Caroline says. "I want to see the world, and I think I need to do it myself. At least the first time."

"I see," Klaus replies, though he wishes he doesn't. Caroline has always been independent, but her independent streak seems to be the only thing separating them now.

"And then, when I'm ready to see the world with you, I'll come find you and ask you to join me," Caroline continues. "If you can and you want to, when the time comes, of course."

"There is nothing that could possibly have a hope of stopping me from traveling the world with you, love," Klaus assures her. "I just wish I was joining you now."

"I'll send you postcards," Caroline promises.

(And she does, from every city she visits. It still isn't enough for him.)

&

_October 24, 2020_

"Here's your mail, sir," a minion obediently handed him the pile of envelopes, as he did at this time every day.

Among the letters and Rebekah's subscriptions and junk hid a postcard. The back of the postcard was yellow, with each letter of the words 'Greetings from New Orleans' framing a picture of one of the city's historical landmarks.

What gave Klaus pause when he flipped it over, before he read what was written on it, was that there was no postage: this must have been hand-delivered to his front door.

Considering there was only one person who had sent him postcards in the last few years, he was more hopeful than suspicious as he read the card.

_October 24, 2020_

_Dear Klaus,_

_I see no reason to continue pretending that I'm not in love with you._

_Meet me in Paris._

_Love,_

_Caroline_

And so that's what he did.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed!!


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